James Madison looks to repeat

FRISCO, TEXAS — The way James Madison coach Mike Houston sees it, North Dakota State’s FCS dominance isn’t quite over, even though his Dukes ended the Bison’s five- year title run in the semifinals last season. Houston speaks from experience, with his team a win from an undefeated season as the defending champion. The final opponent in the pursuit of a second straight crown: North Dakota State today in the FCS championship game. “I don’t know that you’ll ever see that again,” Houston said. “It’s almost an absurd achievement. And the fact that they made it to the semifinals last year, and they’re back in the finals this year, I mean really you’re talking about a seven-year run where there’s just complete dominance weekin and weekout.” James Madison ( 14- 0) ended North Dakota State’s 22-gamepostseasonwinning streak in Fargo last season and survived a 31-28 scare in the quarterfinals against Weber State this season. The Bison ( 13- 1) have cruised by an average margin of 36 points in the playoffs, perhaps with their eyes on a rematch. “Not at first. I kind of put it behind me,” said running back Bruce Anderson, who has taken the lead role with an injury to Lance Dunn. “But as we got closer, especially after we beat Sam Houston, I was looking forward to playing James Madison.” It’s a rematch of experienced quarterbacks as well, with James Madison senior Bryan Schor trying to extend the second-longest FCS winning streak, at 26 games. The longest FCS winning streak? Why, North Dakota State, of course— a33-winrun from 2012-14 that included one undefeated season. “To consistently comeback here, now that we’ve done it two years now, is really hard,” said Schor, who threw for three touchdowns in last season’s win over the Bison. “And they’ve done it for, what, six now? It’s pretty incredible what they’ve done.”